I can't remember where I found this article. But, it is good "reporting", which is nearly a lost art. Today, writers often attempt to "make"news, rather than report it...
New opportunities on a brand new course
The European Tour touches down on Spanish soil a total of seven times this year; after the Open de Andalucia in Malaga and the Open de Espana in Barcelona the Tour passed by Mallorca and Casares and will move on further to Valencia and Sotogrande. This week the players are heading for Spain´s capital city of Madrid, to a brand new venue that celebrates its first great tour event. The Bankia Madrid Masters will be held there from October 6 to 9.
The El Encín Golf Hotel in Alcalá de Henares will host the fourth edition of the Masters, which has a prize money total of € 1 million. The new venue will welcome some golf stars, like Martin Kaymer (2010 winner of the KLM Open in The Netherlands), the Molinari brothers, Luke Donald and more than a handful of Spanish golfers.
Bankia Masters’ fourth year
This is the fourth year of the Madrid Masters; after Luke Donald’s win at the Real Sociedad Hípica Española Club de Campo, the Bankia Madrid Masters now is played at the El Encín. Before, in 2009, it was Ross McGowan who triumphed at Centro Nacional de Golf. South African Charl Schwartzel was crowned champion in the inaugural event in 2008, which was played at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.
Plenty of surprises
El Encín is different in many ways. The Campo Sur course of El Encin, with the Santos de la Humosa hills in the background, has plenty of surprises that can make life difficult for even the most seasoned of golfers. The course was designed and built with an idea to one day host some of the great tournaments of the European Tour. Now that the tour players are actually heading for Madrid, the hotel manager’s dream has come true. Joaquín Molpeceres, President of El Encín Golf Hotel, said: “We are thrilled by the idea of hosting the Bankia Madrid Masters, which was one of our goals when we built this course.”
Superb bunkering
The Campo Sur is a great course, featuring undulating greens and superb bunkering. It is a long championship course, but with six different sets of tees it caters to golfers at every level.
El Encín Golf Hotel, which opened just last March, is located in the outskirts of the historic village of Alcalá de Henares, 34 kilometres north east of Madrid, and overlooks the stunning mountains of the Santos del la Humosa region.
"Fear and Loathing" (the putting surfaces)
Rick Baril, the US-based designer of the course that was opened in April of this year, thinks the course is barely ready for this tournament. Still, Baril is very proud of some distinct features of the course. “The most compelling or unique feature at El Encín will be the putting surfaces, that are very distinct and contorted. There is no doubt many golf professionals will loathe the putting surfaces at El Encin. The greens are complicated, sophisticated, tortured and – at times – even whimsical. Placing a golf ball in the correct position on the green will be critical to a successful round. But, there will also be serendipity introduced by the green complexes and putting surfaces – and this will likely drive some players crazy.”
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